Vehicles may include a variety of passive restraint systems, including airbags that can deploy during a vehicle impact. Airbags can assist in absorbing energy from vehicle occupants during the impact. The airbag may be a component of an airbag assembly, including a housing supporting an airbag, and an inflator in communication with the airbag for inflating the airbag from an uninflated position to an inflated position.
The vehicle may include an impact sensing system in communication with the airbag assembly for sensing a vehicle impact and instructing the inflator to inflate airbags when a vehicle impact is sensed. The impact sensing system may sense the direction of the impact and may selectively inflate, or not inflate, certain airbags of the vehicle, or extensions of the airbag, based on the type and magnitude of impact that is sensed, e.g., based on direction, magnitude, etc.
Vehicles are subject to a variety of impact tests. These impact tests may include those standardized by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Agency (NHTSA). These impact tests may include, for example, oblique impact tests. One such test is the small overlap rigid barrier (SORB) test in which the vehicle is impacted in a front corner of the vehicle at an oblique angle with a rigid barrier. In this test, a test dummy in a front passenger seat may be urged forwardly and toward the impacted corner of the vehicle.
Another type of impact test is the NHTSA frontal oblique impact test. In this test, the test dummy in the front passenger seat is urged in a cross-vehicle direction toward a driver side door of the vehicle or toward a passenger side door of the vehicle depending on whether the oblique impact is on a left or a right side of the vehicle.